Editor, Ceres Courier,
Right now this isn’t about California. It’s about saving our nation from the most corrupt administration in our lifetimes. A Yes vote on 50 will give us a chance to save our nation.
Let’s be honest. California’s Democratic governor and legislature would not be pushing for the drastic measure of asking voters to override its independent redistricting commission if it weren’t for President Donald Trump’s unprecedented move to encourage Texas and other Republican-leaning states to redraw their Congressional maps in the middle of the decade without updated census data.
The president and the Republican members of Congress know that his policies are unpopular, and that they will likely lose control of the legislature in the mid-term election next year, so he is trying to rig it in his favor by getting the already heavily gerrymandered states to rig them even more in their favor. Yes, one can argue that both sides do it, but it certainly isn’t the Democrats who are trying to change things mid-census. In fact, it is the Democrats who tried to get Congress to approve a bill making all states use independent bi-partisan commissions instead of having legislators do it. Republicans were opposed to that bill.
Since Trump and his party are trying to stack the deck in their favor, even though polls are showing he has a less than 40% approval rating, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature have decided to put Proposition 50 on the ballot. If passed by the state’s voters, this measure would temporarily suspend the current map of California’s Congressional districts and allow one created by the legislature to go into effect until the fall of 2030. The idea is to neutralize the map drawn by the Texas legislature and signed by Gov. Greg Abbott. The difference is California’s voters get a say in whether or not to move forward with the redistricting, while Texas voters don’t have any say in the matter.
The truth is that none of this would be necessary if President Trump would just play by the rules, but apparently his desire to maintain and expand his power has overcome him.
Gordon Barbosa
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